Conferencing, conventioning and reviewing

The 2009 Redwood Writers Conference was a big hit. My presentation, Developing Your Online Presence (as an author), aside from technical difficulties out of my control (including the hotel's wifi quitting), went well. I had over 40 people in attendance. I met a fellow tech presenter in the bookstore and we're laying plans to collaborate on future efforts and invest in our own digital projector. Very exciting. It's not writing, but it's fun stuff and it will pay. :)

Last week, I hopped onto the Writing Mafia group on LinkedIn and asked for examples of author blogs in which the subject was not necessarily writing, but related to their work to add to my visual aids.

Here are the ones I used.

• Freelance writer and photographer Betsy S. Franz has several blogs. I used this one: The Nature Lady.
  
• Lynne Butler writes books on law. She writes on law on her blog as well: Estate Law Canada.
  
• Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog doesn't have as tight a focus, but she doesn't shy away from hot topics, she embraces them.
  

You have no idea how hard it is for me to be sitting here blogging when I just received an ARC of Jasper Fforde's new book, Shades of Grey. Can't wait to sink my teeth into that one. :)

But first I'm off to learn some Romani dances at Sonoma State University taught by Sani Rifati of Voice of Roma.

World Fantasy Convention is this weekend. I can't wait! I'm going to try to post a couple of times from the convention. I'm also going to line up authors for interviews for the next six months.

If you read the interview with Jennifer Brozek in the previous post before the review of Grants Pass was live, it's up now at SFReader. Grants Pass is an anthology of post-apocalyptic tales edited by Jennifer and Amanda Pillar. It was a deliciously dreary collection of complicated people dealing with the aftermath of plague and quakes.


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Busy, busy, busy - but still have some SF news

Have you heard that the series "V" is being trotted out again? This time with Morena Baccarin as Diana, the leader of the alien race that is here to "help" us. Not! Read more here and here.

Ursula K. Le Guin turned 80 this week. Happy Birthday!

This contest gives a whole new meaning to "forward thinking". Science Fiction and Fantasy held it in 1980 asking for predictions of which SF concept would be realized by the year 2010. Read more at Locus. The winner receives $2010.

I'm preparing for my presentation, "Developing your online presence" at the 2009 Redwood Writers Conference on Saturday. This subject is inexhaustible. Everyday I learn more. The trick is to pull out the best bits for the one hour I'm given.

I just searched on Facebook for: Science Fiction Readers. I wanted to find them on Facebook. I have almost 700 "friends," but they're mostly other writers. The scary thing is that three groups popped up. Yup. Just 3. And they had less than 20 members between them. Where are these SF readers?

Are media SF fans more inclined to network than those who read SF books? Interesting question....

World Fantasy Convention follows the next weekend. This will be my first WFC. I couldn't miss this one as it's so close I don't have to spring for airfare.

Someone rated my blog over on blog catalog >waves and blows kisses to spearcarrier<. I think that's my first rating outside of Networked Blogs. It's a glowing review. I must find others to tell the world what a great blog this is. >wink, wink, nudge, nudge< There are lots of lovely buttons at the right you can click on to vote me up or follow to rate me.

On Friday, I'll be posting an interview with Jennifer Brozek. She writes for RPGs and dark spec fic. She's also the editor for a number of anthologies. Don't miss it.


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Science fiction haps and lists

This just in -- Publishers Weekly posted a list compiled by John Ottinger of blogs that review SF. Now were was this list before I started mine? I haven't had a chance to compare yet. Here's both.

Publisher Weekly
Ann Wilkes' SF Reviews list

Mine's not just blogs and is still growing. Let me know if you have suggestions, though I think I may have my work cut out for a while.

Broad Universe just held some birthday parties for Mary Shelley. Get a load at the refreshments at one of them. And here's an article about another birthday party they held.

Wired posted a list of their favorite SF movies--pre Star Wars.

Here's my tentative schedule for Silicon in San Jose:
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
11:30 am - 12:45 pm in San Jose Room: Joy of Research
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm in Carmel Room: Writer's Block
5:30 pm - 6:45 pm in Carmel Room: Harry Potter is Over...Now What?

This Friday I'll be posting an interview with SF author, Juliette Wade. You can peek at her blog in the meantime.

On the writing front, I'm polishing a first draft of a book review and facing rewrite number 9 of a SF story. I'm currently reading Mortality Factor by Ben Bova and Grants Pass edited by Jennifer Brozek. The Japanese SF was good, but very military. Review to follow at Mostly Fiction.

I'm being interviewed on the radio again next week. This time regarding the Redwood Writers Conference in Santa Rosa this October. I'll be presenting on the topic of building an online platform as an author - go figure. ; Redwood Writers is one of 17 chapters of the California Writers Club which claims to be the oldest writing club in the nation. Jack London and Ina Coolbrith were founding members.

It's September, the beginning of fall, kids are back in school and -- best of all, the latest edition of quarterly and tri-annual mags are heading our way.

The latest edition of Ideomancer has just gone live.

Abandoned Towers released their sneak peek at their next issue coming out November first.

More quarterly mags to look for new issues from are Abyss and Apex, Aoife's Kiss, The Pedestal, and Darwin's Evolutions.




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Writing, networking and author interviews sneak peek

My story, "For Chance to Dream" is now available in issue #25 of Beyond Centauri. If you find it in a bookstore, let me know. Otherwise, it's available online at from the publisher, Sam's Dot Publishing. Beyond Centauri is for ages 9+. You can get a subscription or just buy one issue. My first print magazine sale! And my first sale to this demographic! My copy hasn't arrived yet. Can't wait to see it!

The social networking blog entry is up over at Redwood Writers as promised. I also posted the link on some of the sites contained therein and received a lot of great responses, including more suggested sites.

I'm also doing a workshop on social networking on August 4th in Petaluma, CA sponsored by Redwood Writers. More details later.

Yes I know this is Friday. There should be an author interview up. Well, last weekend was spent, instead trying to whip a new story in shape. But I have some great interviews on the way. Karina Fabian, Juliette Wade, Gregory Frost, Dani and Eytan Kollin, and David Brin. As always, interviews go up on Fridays (obviously not every Friday).

I haven't decided whether or not Warehouse 13 is going to deliver. Sometimes you have to watch more than one episode because there's so much setting up of the situation and characters in the pilot.

I have decided that I'd rather watch a bad SF series than a SF, err that's SyFy now, channel movie. They continue to disappoint. Is it that they can't afford good writers? Are they hiring their nephews and nieces to write them? They sort of like paint by numbers. Like there's a workbook with blanks for (disaster), gigantic (name the animal or insect, past or present), (profession) of estranged spouses who now have to work together. Ok, ok, I'm climbing off my soap box now.

Anyone know an expert on biometrics or DNA testing? My story is languishing for lack of information. I sooo don't have time to do proper research. I'd be happy to pay in acknowledgments. :)


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Shifting writing gears

I've spent most of my allotted blogging time today on upgrading the blog. Adding more buttons for your bookmarking pleasure and added more links to my blog roll. SEO is a never-ending struggle. The good news is that SFOO is popping up all over the place. And since the blog is taking off, I'm going to devote more energy to it and quit some of my other myriad things I'm involved in to keep it current and vital.

I have author interviews with Allen M. Steele and Peter F. Hamilton scheduled for this month. My author interviews will always post on Fridays, but not (yet) every Friday.

Last weekend I cleaned the clutter in my house and it seemed to do wonders for the clutter in my brain. I had two new story ideas on Saturday. I finished the first draft of the flash piece and got a good start on the longer one on Sunday. I even managed to work in the credit card industry in answer to a co-worker's challenge. (I work for a trade journal for said industry by day.)

I also made a pivotal decision regarding my sequel to Awesome Lavratt. I'm going to write it in stand-alone chunks and submit them to mags. You won't have as long to see what Horace gets up to next and I'm hoping that will keep the same punch that Awesome Lavratt had when I wasn't trying too hard.

Please tell your friends about the new and improved SFOO blog, add me to your blogrolls, bookmarks, feeds, etc. Check out the new options on the right. Even new places to vote me up. :)

I'll be blogging over at Redwood Writers this week on Flash Fiction, complete with oodles of places to submit.

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Mars - my current favorite planet

Mars on a Shoestring?

And the Chinese are sending a probe to Mars.

On the Awesome Lavratt front: Just found out my trade edition from createspace is spineless! Or rather, it has nothing printed on the spine. Ahhh, the joys of publication.

The Word by Word radio interview went well on Wednesday night. Aside from a couple of bonehead slips, I sounded reasonably intelligent. I'll be posting it on my site eventually. Or at least excerpts.

I attended the monthly meeting of Redwood Writers today and I think we must have had 60 people in that room. We had to keep fetching more chairs. If you're a Sonoma County writer or want to be a writer and live in the county, this is a hoppin' club and the best place to start.

Also, I want to plug LinkedIn again. There are groups there for everything. There's at least one sf group. Lots of writers groups. You can visit my page to see links to all the groups I've found helpful so far.

My favorite word this week was abyss. Perhaps if we intentionally come up with favorite words and intentionally use them to death for a while, we won't be doing it on accident? Worth a try. Anyone who has ever had to edit their own or someone else's writing, knows what I mean.

And we all have favorite words we pepper our speech with.

Writer's Conferences

Get thee hence, people with suggestions for interesting workshops and topics for a writer's conference...My fellow RWC (Redwood Writers Club)writer, Linda McCabe, is looking for ideas for a one day RWC conference. There are already 15 responses. Add yours now.

My bull riding story is really taking shape. Quite a departure from my usual alien stories. It's for a contest that benefits the Resistol Relief Fund for bull riders. It's doubling as a way to flesh out a character, who happens to be a bull rider, in my mainstream novel. Did I mention how much I love bull riding? Best 8 seconds in sports!

I have three more signings and/or appearances this month and two more the following month. I'm looking forward to all of them. Meantime, I'm job hunting... And, of course, all the good writing jobs are taken. I'll wind up in an office again. I'm looking into temping. That wouldn't be so bad. I like to go in and organize an office and move on. My husband calls it my Mary Poppins routine. :)

Now would be a good time to scale back on the volunteer positions. How do I always manage to do this to myself? It's a simple little two letter word. One of the first I ever learned. Why can't I use it more? NO!

Speaking of Speaking...

If you missed my talk on public speaking/reading at the Redwood Writers Club meeting last Sunday, go to this RWC page and it will be like you were there. Except you won't have an opportunity to read "Sing a Song of Sixpence" as a candidate's campaign speech, or practice diction, pace and eye contact with "Three Blind Mice". Everyone had fun with those.

I'm still pulling my costume together for the upcoming RWC Odd Month Reading: The March Hare's Literary Tea. I have my hat, complete with ears and a vest, a bow tie and a tweed overcoat. The Tea (BYOT -Bring Your Own Tea) will be held at the Sebastopol branch of the Sonoma County Library on March 22nd from 2-4PM.